Parus

Parus
	Great tit Parus major
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Paridae
Genus:	Parus; Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
	Parus major (great tit); Linnaeus, 1758
Species
	See text
	Distribution of the species in the genus Parus. Parus bokharensis is now treated as a subspecies of P. major

Parus is a genus of Old World birds in the tit family. It was formerly a large genus containing most of the 50 odd species in the family Paridae. The genus was split into several resurrected genera following the publication of a detailed molecular phylogenetic analysis in 2013.^[1]^[2] The genus name, Parus, is the Latin word for "tit".

Taxonomy

The genus Parus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.^[3] The genus name is Latin for "tit".^[4] Of the 12 species included in the genus by Linnaeus, the type species was designated as the great tit (Parus major) by George Robert Gray in 1840.^[5]^[6]

Species

The genus now contains the following species:^[2]

Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
Parus major	Great tit	Europe
Parus minor	Japanese tit	Japan and the Russian Far East beyond the Amur River, including the Kuril Islands
Parus cinereus	Cinereous tit	West Asia across South Asia and into Southeast Asia.
Parus monticolus	Green-backed tit	Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Burma, Nepal, Pakistan, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Fossil record

Parus robustus (Pliocene of Csarnota, Hungary) ^[7]
Parus parvulus (Pliocene of Csarnota, Hungary) ^[7]
Parus medius (Pliocene of Beremend, Hungary) ^[7]

References

^ Johansson, U.S.; Ekman, J.; Bowie, R.C.K.; Halvarsson, P.; Ohlson, J.I.; Price, T.D.; Ericson, P.G.P. (2013). "A complete multilocus species phylogeny of the tits and chickadees (Aves: Paridae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 69 (3): 852–860. Bibcode:2013MolPE..69..852J. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.06.019. PMID 23831453.
^ ^a ^b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David (eds.). "Waxwings and their allies, tits & penduline tits". World Bird List Version 6.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 189.
^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 293. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
^ Gray, George Robert (1840). A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 23.
^ Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1986). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 12. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 70.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kessler, E. 2013. Neogene songbirds (Aves, Passeriformes) from Hungary. – Hantkeniana, Budapest, 2013, 8: 37-149.